The Gothic Cross

24 January 2016

The photograph feaured was taken by Dr Colin Davies (Temple 51) in 1951.

This year, one of the National Trust’s exciting restoration projects is to restore the Gothic Cross, originally sited on the Evergreen Walk round the back of the Temples of Ancient and Modern Virtue. Built in 1814 from Coade stone as the first duke’s memorial to his mother, it was three tiers high and very ornate. Colin Davies (Temple 51) photographed the Gothic Cross in 1951 whilst he was at Stowe and some Stoics came across some pieces of the cross in the undergrowth in the 1970s too. Colin' photograph gave a peep into a lost garden monument. Now, with these pieces, the National Trust are looking to recreate the cross but are lacking photos of it before it was destroyed by a falling tree in the 1950s. So we are asking the Old Stoic community if you have any photos of the Gothic Cross before is broke up. We have the original guidebook engravings, so we know what it’s supposed to look like, but photographs would be helpful to know what it actually looked like.
 
If you have any further information or photos, please send them to Fred Markland, (National Trust Building Surveyor), fred.markland@nationaltrust.org.uk, we’ll keep you updated with the restoration progress.